Congress Awaits Budget Blueprint,2017 Military Readiness Request

MARITIME

MATTERS

Spring will be a busy time on Capitol
Hill, as lawmakers prepare to deliberate
both an additional “military readiness”
request for the current fiscal year and a
government-wide funding proposal for
fiscal 2018, both of which will mark the
administration of President Donald J.

Trump’s first attempts to spell out itspriorities in lengthy tables and lists ofline items.

The first budget blueprint from any new administration always is met with much anticipation in
Congress. But for Trump, who spoke in platitudes and
generalities during much of the 2016 campaign, the
proposal will provide lawmakers, lobbyists and citizens with their first opportunities to see exactly where
he wants to invest federal dollars.

Both upcoming requests will be guided by the findings of a wide-ranging review of military readiness,
requirements and budgets ordered by Trump a week
after his inauguration.

For the Defense Department in general — and
the Navy and Marine Corps in particular — Trump
already has boasted that he wants to boost military
spending above levels mandated in the 2011 Budget
Control Act. He has bemoaned the size of the Navy’s
fleet, for instance, pledging to invest more dollars to
put more boats in the water.

“We will ensure that the men and women of our
military have the tools, equipment, resources, training
and supplies you need to get the job done. You’ve seen
me say we’ve been depleted,” Trump said in an early
February address at U.S. Central Command headquarters. “Our Navy is at a point almost as low as World